SERP Rank Tracker + AI SEO — Ahrefs $129/mo Alt

🤖 MCP-Ready — works as a tool for Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT, and other AI agents via the Apify MCP Server. Typed inputs + structured outputs (dataset_schema) deployed in Cycle 73.

🧰 Works with: LangChain · LangGraph · CrewAI · LlamaIndex · PydanticAI · Mastra AI · Bee AI — call this actor as a tool from any Apify MCP or actor-templates-backed AI framework.

💰 Pay-per-result, not per compute unit — you know your cost BEFORE pressing Run. No surprise compute charges, no monthly minimums, no SaaS subscription. Compare to Apify's default $0.20/CU model where cost depends on actor runtime, memory, and data volume.

🔁 Apify rental alternative — Apify is sunsetting the rental pricing model in October 2026. This Actor is already 100% pay-per-event: drop in as a 1:1 replacement for any rental-based competitor without a contract or monthly minimum.

🍪 No cookies, no OAuth, no API keys (for the scraping) — runs on public data only. AI keys are optional and only needed when enableAiAnalysis: true.

Track SERP rankings and run AI SEO audits for $0.003/query — drop-in replacement for Ahrefs ($129/mo), Semrush ($139/mo), and SERPRobot ($49/mo) rank trackers. A daily 50-query rank-tracking schedule costs ~$4.50/month here vs $129+/mo on Ahrefs (96% cheaper). Extracts organic listings, featured snippets, knowledge panels, People Also Ask, and related searches across 30+ countries, with cross-run diff mode, push webhooks, and optional 5-provider AI SEO analysis.

What it does

Google Search Scraper runs headless Chromium via Playwright to render Google's search results pages exactly as a real browser would — defeating the JavaScript-only detection that blocks simple HTTP scrapers. For every query you provide, it extracts the full SERP: organic results with title, URL, snippet, and position; featured snippets; knowledge panel entities; People Also Ask questions; and related searches. Results are localized by country code (gl) and language code (hl), so you get the same page a user in Germany, Japan, or Brazil would see.

Beyond raw extraction, the actor solves three real problems without requiring a SaaS subscription:

Rank tracking at a fraction of SaaS cost. Enable diff mode (trackSerpDiff: true) to snapshot SERP positions across scheduler runs. On every run the actor compares top-10 URLs against the previous snapshot keyed by (query, country, language), flags domains that moved 2+ positions, identifies new entries and dropped domains, and records featured-snippet source changes — the same functionality that drives $50–200/month in Ahrefs, Semrush, and SERPRobot subscriptions.

Push-based webhook alerts. Point alertWebhookUrl at any Slack incoming webhook, Zapier catch-hook, Make scenario, or custom endpoint. Whenever a tracked query's SERP shifts significantly, the actor POSTs a structured JSON diff payload — no polling, no dashboard refreshes. Wire into Slack for an ops-channel alert or into n8n/Make to route rank-drops to email and rank-climbs to a Notion log.

AI SEO analysis per query. Enable enableAiAnalysis and choose your LLM provider (OpenRouter, Anthropic, Google AI, OpenAI, or self-hosted Ollama). The actor classifies search intent, identifies content gaps against the current top-10, and produces keyword and content recommendations — functionality that typically requires a separate SEO audit tool.

SEOs, content strategists, growth teams, and rank-tracking SaaS builders use this actor to monitor competitive positions and automate SERP intelligence at scale.

Features

• Playwright browser rendering: Uses headless Chromium to render Google's JavaScript-heavy pages, bypassing anti-bot measures that block simple HTTP requests
• Full organic result extraction: Title, URL, displayed URL, snippet text, and position for every ranking result
• Featured snippet extraction: Captures the answer box when Google serves one, including source URL and snippet text
• Knowledge panel extraction: Extracts entity facts, descriptions, and structured data from knowledge panels
• People Also Ask: Captures PAA questions shown alongside results — ideal for content planning and FAQ targeting
• Related searches: Extracts suggestions from the bottom of the SERP for keyword expansion
• Multi-country support: Pass any ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code (us, gb, de, fr, jp, br, in, etc.) to localize results
• Multi-language support: Pass any ISO 639-1 language code (en, de, fr, es, ja, pt, zh) to filter by result language
• Bulk query processing: Submit multiple queries in one run — each produces a separate output item
• Pagination: Automatically fetches up to 10 pages to collect up to 100 organic results per query
• Rank-tracker diff mode: Cross-run SERP snapshots stored per (query, country, language) triple with rank-change detection — replaces dedicated SaaS rank trackers
• Webhook alerts: Fire-and-forget POST to Slack / Zapier / Make / n8n / custom endpoints on significant SERP movements (2+ position shifts, new/dropped top-10 domains, featured-snippet flips)
• AI SEO analysis: Search intent classification, keyword insights, content gap analysis, and content structure recommendations via 5 LLM providers
• Multi-LLM support: OpenRouter (300+ models, recommended), Anthropic Claude, Google AI Gemini, OpenAI GPT, or self-hosted Ollama
• Pay-per-query pricing: Only billed for queries that return at least one organic result — blocked runs cost nothing

Head-to-head: vs apify/google-search-scraper

This Actor competes directly against Apify's official apify/google-search-scraper (~116K users, 4.8/5, 125 reviews). Where each wins:

Feature	This Actor (harvestlab)	apify/google-search-scraper
Cross-run rank-change tracker	✅ diff mode with per-(query, country, language) snapshots	❌ not offered
SERP-change webhook alerts	✅ Slack / Zapier / n8n / Make / custom on rank shifts	❌ not offered
AI SEO analysis	✅ 5-provider router (OpenRouter / Anthropic / Google / OpenAI / Ollama) for intent / gaps / content recommendations	❌ has "AI search mode" (Perplexity / ChatGPT search) — different feature, not SEO
Featured snippet + knowledge panel extraction	✅ both	⚠️ PAA documented; featured snippets and knowledge panels not explicit
People Also Ask	✅ full	✅ full
Multi-country	✅ 30+ countries	✅ supported
Per-result price	$0.003 / query	$0.0018 / page
Total users / rating	New (volume gap)	116K / 4.8/5

Why pay 1.7× more per query? Because apify/google-search-scraper is a SERP fetcher; this Actor is a rank-tracker SaaS at SERP-scraper pricing. A 50-keyword daily rank-tracker on Apify's actor costs ~$2.70/mo for raw SERPs that you'd then need to diff and alert on yourself. On this actor: ~$4.50/mo for diffed SERPs + Slack alerts already wired. Versus Ahrefs ($129/mo) or SEMrush ($139.95/mo): 30×+ cheaper with the same rank-tracker outputs.

If you only want raw SERP HTML and you'll do diffing/alerts yourself, Apify's official actor is cheaper. If you want a turnkey rank-tracker that fires Slack alerts when your competitor gains a featured snippet, this Actor's $9/mo is the cheapest option on the Apify Store.

Use Cases

Each use case below shows the SaaS tool you'd otherwise pay for and what this actor costs at the same workload — most replacements come in 10–100× cheaper.

• Daily rank tracking — Replace Ahrefs Lite ($129/mo), SEMrush Pro ($139.95/mo), SE Ranking Essential ($65/mo), or SERPRobot Pro ($49/mo). Schedule this actor daily for a 100-keyword list with trackSerpDiff: true and Slack alerts: ~$0.30/day = ~$9/month vs $49–140/month subscriptions you don't fully use. The serp_diff item gives you the same rank-change feed those dashboards build their alerting on.
• SERP competitor monitoring — Replace the position-tracker tier of Ahrefs ($129/mo) or SEMrush ($139.95/mo). Track which domains hold top-10 spots for your money keywords and POST to Slack/n8n when a competitor gains or drops 2+ positions. Real-time, push-based, no dashboard refresh required.
• SEO keyword research at scale — Replace Ahrefs Keywords Explorer or SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool for SERP-side research. 1,000 head-term SERPs (organic + PAA + related searches + featured snippet) cost ~$3 as one-shot data — you keep the raw JSON, not a locked dashboard. Pair with enableAiAnalysis for $0.05 per query of intent classification, content gaps, and recommended content structure (typical AI SEO tools like Surfer SEO ($89/mo) or MarketMuse ($149/mo) sell the same insight).
• Content brief generation — Pull PAA questions, related searches, and the current top-10 for a target keyword, then feed enableAiAnalysis: true to get a draft H2/H3 outline, target word count, and competitive gaps. Replaces the brief-builder feature of Frase ($45/mo), MarketMuse ($149/mo), or Clearscope ($189/mo) at $0.053/brief.
• Featured-snippet & PAA opportunity hunting — Filter datasets where featured_snippet is null to find queries where the answer box is unclaimed, or where it cites a weak source you can outrank. Replaces the "SERP features" report in Ahrefs/SEMrush at fractional cost.
• Multi-market localized SEO — Run the same query across country: us / gb / de / fr / jp / br and diff the SERPs to see which content travels and which markets need localized landing pages. Replaces the multi-location tier of AccuRanker ($129/mo) or Wincher ($60/mo).
• Affiliate & content-arbitrage discovery — Score SERPs for commercial-intent queries where the top-10 are weak (low DR placeholders, AI-generated thin content). The domain and snippet fields plus AI competitive-gap analysis surface keywords where a real piece of content can rank — replaces parts of Niche Hunter workflows in SEMrush or Ahrefs.
• Lead generation from local & niche queries — Extract business URLs from "plumber [city]", "[industry] consultant near me", or B2B intent queries to feed into a CRM. SERP-based lead lists are an alternative to ZoomInfo ($14,995/yr seat) or Apollo ($59/mo seat) for top-of-funnel domain discovery.
• Brand & reputation monitoring — Schedule daily SERP runs for your brand name + variants and alert via webhook when a negative third-party page enters top-10 or your own domain drops. Replaces the brand-mention tier of Brand24 ($99/mo) or Mention ($49/mo) for SERP-specific monitoring.
• AI SEO analysis without a separate tool — enableAiAnalysis returns search intent, competition level, content recommendations, competitive gaps, and featured-snippet strategy in one pass for $0.05/query. Replaces buying both a rank tracker AND an AI SEO tool — typical stack is Ahrefs ($129/mo) + Surfer SEO ($89/mo) = $218/mo; this actor covers both surfaces.
• Academic & data-journalism research — SERP data for studies on information retrieval, search bias, media coverage patterns, election-cycle ranking, or localization effects. Pay only for the queries you actually run; no annual seat cost.

Input

Search Parameters

Field	Type	Default	Description
queries	string[]	—	One or more search queries. Each produces a separate output item.
maxResults	integer	10	Max organic results per query (1–100). Values above 10 require pagination (+2–3s per extra page).
country	string	us	ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code for geo-targeted results (us, gb, de, jp, etc.).
language	string	en	ISO 639-1 language code for result language (en, de, fr, es, ja, etc.).
includePeopleAlsoAsk	boolean	true	Extract PAA questions.
includeRelatedSearches	boolean	true	Extract related search suggestions.
includeFeaturedSnippet	boolean	true	Extract the featured snippet / answer box.
includeKnowledgePanel	boolean	true	Extract knowledge panel entity data.

SERP Diff / Rank Tracker

Field	Type	Default	Description
trackSerpDiff	boolean	false	Enable cross-run rank tracking. Snapshots top-10 URLs per (query, country, language) and emits a serp_diff item with rank changes on every subsequent run.
alertWebhookUrl	string	—	POST a JSON diff payload here when a tracked query's change_score meets the threshold. Auto-enables trackSerpDiff.
alertMinChangeScore	integer	2	Minimum change score to fire a webhook (1 = any change, higher = less noise).

AI Analysis Settings

Field	Type	Default	Description
enableAiAnalysis	boolean	false	Enable AI-powered SEO analysis. Requires a provider API key.
llmProvider	string	openrouter	Provider: openrouter (recommended), anthropic, google, openai, or ollama.
openrouterApiKey	string	—	OpenRouter API key. Set via OPENROUTER_API_KEY env var or this field.
anthropicApiKey	string	—	Anthropic API key. Set via ANTHROPIC_API_KEY env var or this field.
googleApiKey	string	—	Google AI API key. Set via GOOGLE_API_KEY env var or this field.
openAiApiKey	string	—	OpenAI API key. Set via OPENAI_API_KEY env var or this field.
ollamaBaseUrl	string	http://localhost:11434	Ollama base URL for self-hosted inference.
llmModel	string	—	Optional model override. Leave empty for provider defaults.

Proxy Settings

Field	Type	Description
proxyConfiguration	object	Proxy settings. Residential proxy is strongly recommended for popular head-term queries to avoid Google CAPTCHA blocks. Default: Apify RESIDENTIAL group.

Google aggressively throttles common commercial queries ("best CRM software", "ai news 2026", "buy laptop") from datacenter IPs and returns a reCAPTCHA / "unusual traffic" page. The default proxy is {"useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]} — each retry rotates to a fresh household IP. You are never charged for blocked queries.

CLI aliases (hidden from Console form): query, searchQuery, searchTerm all map to queries[]; maxItems maps to maxResults.

Output

Per-query result item

Each query produces one output item pushed to the Apify dataset:

Field	Type	Description
query	string	The search query used
country	string	Country code used
language	string	Language code used
total_results_text	string	Google's "About X results" count text
organic_results_count	integer	Number of organic results extracted
organic_results	object[]	Ranked list of organic results (see below)
people_also_ask	string[]	PAA questions (empty array if none or disabled)
related_searches	string[]	Related search suggestions (empty array if none or disabled)
featured_snippet	object|null	Featured snippet data if Google serves one
knowledge_panel	object|null	Knowledge panel entity data if present
scraped_at	string	ISO 8601 timestamp of the scrape

Organic result object

Field	Type	Description
position	integer	Rank position (1 = top)
title	string	Page title as shown in search results
url	string	Full canonical URL
domain	string	Root domain extracted from the URL (e.g. forbes.com)
displayed_url	string	URL as displayed by Google (breadcrumb format)
snippet	string	Description text under the title

SERP diff item (rank-tracker mode)

When trackSerpDiff: true, an additional serp_diff item is emitted per query:

Field	Type	Description
type	string	Always "serp_diff"
query	string	Search query
change_score	integer	Total significant changes detected
rank_changes	object[]	Domains that moved 2+ positions (rank_now, rank_previous, rank_delta, direction)
new_entries	object[]	Domains new to the tracked top-10
dropped_entries	object[]	Domains that left the tracked top-10
featured_snippet_changed	boolean	Whether the featured snippet source flipped
snapshot_at	string	ISO 8601 timestamp
hours_since_last_snapshot	number	Hours elapsed since the prior snapshot

AI analysis fields (when enabled)

When enableAiAnalysis: true, each query result includes an ai_analysis object with:

• search_intent — informational / commercial / transactional / navigational
• competition_level — low / medium / high
• keyword_insights — primary intent, long-tail opportunities, PAA-derived questions
• content_recommendations — optimized title, H2/H3 outline, target word count
• competitive_gaps — opportunities the current top-10 is missing
• featured_snippet_strategy — how to win the answer box for this query

Pricing

Event	When charged	Price
serp-result-scraped	Once per query returning ≥1 organic result	$0.003
ai-analysis-completed	Per query when AI SEO analysis runs	$0.05
serp-change-detected	Per query with a significant SERP change vs prior run	$0.002
alert-dispatched	Per successfully delivered webhook alert (2xx response)	$0.002

Blocked queries (CAPTCHA / 0 results) are never charged. A typical 50-keyword daily rank-tracker costs ~$0.15/day ($4.50/month) vs $50–200/month for SaaS alternatives.

Output example

{
    "query": "best project management software 2026",
    "country": "us",
    "language": "en",
    "total_results_text": "About 142,000,000 results",
    "organic_results_count": 10,
    "organic_results": [
        {
            "position": 1,
            "title": "Best Project Management Software of 2026 - Forbes Advisor",
            "url": "https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/best-project-management-software/",
            "domain": "forbes.com",
            "displayed_url": "forbes.com › advisor › business",
            "snippet": "We tested and compared 20+ project management tools..."
        }
    ],
    "people_also_ask": [
        "What is the best project management tool in 2026?",
        "Is Monday.com better than Asana?"
    ],
    "related_searches": [
        "project management software free",
        "best project management software for small teams"
    ],
    "featured_snippet": null,
    "knowledge_panel": null,
    "scraped_at": "2026-04-24T10:30:00Z"
}

Quick Start

Basic SERP scrape — 10 results for one keyword:

{
    "queries": ["best CRM software 2026"],
    "maxResults": 10,
    "country": "us",
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true,
        "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
    }
}

Cost: $0.003. Returns title, URL, snippet, position for 10 results + PAA + related searches.

Multiple queries in one run:

{
    "queries": [
        "best project management software",
        "asana vs monday vs clickup",
        "project management tools for agencies"
    ],
    "maxResults": 20,
    "country": "us"
}

Localized search (Germany):

{
    "queries": ["beste Projektmanagement Software"],
    "maxResults": 10,
    "country": "de",
    "language": "de"
}

Daily rank tracker with Slack alerts:

{
    "queries": ["my target keyword", "competitor keyword"],
    "trackSerpDiff": true,
    "alertWebhookUrl": "https://hooks.slack.com/services/YOUR/SLACK/WEBHOOK",
    "alertMinChangeScore": 2,
    "country": "us"
}

Schedule this run daily via Apify Scheduler. The first run establishes the baseline (not charged). Subsequent runs emit a serp_diff item and POST to Slack whenever positions shift 2+ places, new domains enter top 10, or a featured snippet flips. Cost: ~$7–10/month for 50 tracked keywords vs $50–200/month for SaaS rank trackers.

With AI SEO analysis:

{
    "queries": ["email marketing platforms"],
    "maxResults": 30,
    "enableAiAnalysis": true,
    "llmProvider": "openrouter",
    "openrouterApiKey": "sk-or-..."
}

Returns full SERP data plus ai_analysis with intent classification, content gaps, keyword opportunities, and a recommended content structure.

MCP Quickstart — call this actor from Claude / Cursor / ChatGPT

Install the Apify MCP server in your AI agent of choice:

# Claude Code
claude mcp add apify -- npx -y @apify/actors-mcp-server --token YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN

# Claude Desktop / Cursor (add to mcp.json):
{"mcpServers":{"apify":{"command":"npx","args":["-y","@apify/actors-mcp-server","--token","YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN"]}}}

Then prompt the agent:

"Use the harvestlab/google-search-scraper actor on Apify to track our Google rankings for ['ai code editor', 'ai pair programming'] across US/UK/DE/FR with featured snippet detection — fire a webhook on rank changes. Push the results back as JSON."

The agent will discover the actor's dataset_schema.json, generate the right input, run it, and pipe the typed output back into your conversation.

Use with AI agents

This actor's output (organic SERP results, featured snippets, PAA, knowledge panels, plus optional AI SEO analysis as JSON) is agent-ready — drop it into a research agent, RAG pipeline, or SEO auditor as a tool. It's a direct Tavily / Serper / Brave Search API alternative at $0.003/query, and the same run replaces Ahrefs ($129/mo) for rank tracking. Reference templates live at apify/actor-templates → js-langchain and js-langgraph-agent.

LangChain — wrap as a Tool for a research / RAG agent:

from apify_client import ApifyClient
from langchain.tools import Tool

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")

def google_search(args: dict) -> list:
    run = client.actor("harvestlab/google-search-scraper").call(run_input={
        "queries": args["queries"],
        "country": args.get("country", "us"),
        "maxResults": args.get("maxResults", 10),
    })
    return list(client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items())

google_search_tool = Tool(
    name="google_search",
    description="Fresh Google SERP results + featured snippets. Use for research, RAG context, or SEO checks.",
    func=google_search,
)
# agent.invoke({"input": "..."}) -> agent calls google_search_tool.invoke({"queries": ["ai code editors 2026"], "country": "us"})

LangGraph — node in a research-agent graph:

from apify_client import ApifyClient
from langgraph.graph import StateGraph

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")

def serp_node(state: dict) -> dict:
    run = client.actor("harvestlab/google-search-scraper").call(run_input={
        "queries": [state["query"]],
        "country": state.get("country", "us"),
        "maxResults": 10,
    })
    item = next(client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items())
    return {
        "urls": [r["url"] for r in item["organic_results"]],
        "snippets": [r["snippet"] for r in item["organic_results"]],
        "featured_answer": (item.get("featured_snippet") or {}).get("snippet"),
    }

graph = StateGraph(dict)
graph.add_node("search", serp_node)
# wire into your research / synthesis / writer nodes downstream

Troubleshooting

CAPTCHA or "unusual traffic" block Google blocks datacenter IPs on popular commercial queries. Always use proxyConfiguration with RESIDENTIAL proxy group. You are never charged for blocked queries — only successful scrapes bill. If blocks persist on a specific query, rephrase as a long-tail variant ("ai news april 2026" instead of "ai news 2026") or reduce run frequency.

Fewer results than expected (e.g. 7 instead of 10) Google serves fewer organic results for navigational queries, rare queries, or when it fills space with Knowledge Panels, Shopping carousels, or AI Overviews. Try broadening the search term or removing quotes. AI Mode / AI Overview layouts (new generative-answer pages rolling out for commercial-intent queries) may return fewer <h3> headings — rephrase as a long-tail or informational query to get the traditional organic SERP.

Featured snippet not appearing in output Not all queries trigger featured snippets. The featured_snippet field is null when Google doesn't serve one. Question-format queries ("how to X", "what is Y") are more likely to trigger answer boxes.

Results differ from my browser Google personalizes results based on cookies, location, and search history. This actor uses a clean browser session with no cookies. Set country and language to match your target audience. Results for the same query may also vary by Google data center.

Rank tracking shows no diff on second run Confirm trackSerpDiff: true in both runs and that country/language match exactly between runs — the snapshot key is (query, country, language). Also verify the actor has permission to write to the google-serp-rank-history named key-value store.

AI analysis returns an error Confirm the API key is set either as an environment variable (OPENROUTER_API_KEY, ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, GOOGLE_API_KEY, or OPENAI_API_KEY) or in the corresponding input field. The error message names both paths. For Ollama, confirm ollamaBaseUrl is reachable from the Apify runner (self-hosted Ollama is not reachable from cloud runs unless tunneled).

Webhook not firing alertWebhookUrl requires trackSerpDiff: true (auto-enabled when a URL is set) and a prior baseline run. Webhooks fire only when change_score >= alertMinChangeScore (default 2). Check the actor log for [alert] lines — they show whether the webhook was dispatched, skipped (below threshold), or failed (timeout / non-2xx). Failed webhooks never fail the run and are not charged.

Legal and Compliance

This actor is provided as a technical tool. Users are solely responsible for ensuring their use complies with applicable laws and platform policies, including:

• Google's Terms of Service — Google's ToS restricts automated access to their services. Use this tool responsibly and at your own risk.
• Data protection regulations — GDPR (EU), CCPA (California), and equivalent local laws govern the collection and processing of any personal data encountered in search results.
• Local laws — Web scraping legality varies by jurisdiction. Users must verify compliance with applicable laws in their region and the region of the target data.

This actor extracts only publicly visible search result information — titles, URLs, and snippet text that Google displays to any anonymous visitor. It does not bypass authentication, access private data, or circumvent paywalls.

The developer of this actor is not responsible for any misuse, ToS violations, or legal consequences arising from its use. No personal data is stored by the actor beyond what Apify's standard dataset storage provides; consult the Apify Privacy Policy for data handling details.

Related Actors

• News Monitor — Track news mentions on the same competitor brand keywords you scrape SERPs for. Pair Google's organic / featured-snippet picture with real-time press coverage so SEO and PR teams see search rank shifts and the news cycles driving them in one workflow.
• Contact Extractor — Turn top-ranking SERP URLs into a lead list. Pipe result.url from Google Search Scraper into Contact Extractor to harvest SMTP-verified emails, phones, and tech-stack signals from every domain that ranks for your target query — link-building outreach and ICP discovery in one pass.
• Reddit Scraper — Layer community sentiment onto SERP keyword research. Run the same competitor and category terms through Reddit to see how real users discuss them, surfacing pain points and feature gaps that pure SERP data hides.